Dunstan Chestnuts Versus Acorns
OutdoorHub 12.20.13
The chestnut tree is making a huge comeback as a food plot tree – it’s field-proven that deer prefer chestnuts over acorns. And the Realtree Nursery, with its popular Dunstan chestnut trees, has everything you need to start providing chestnuts to the deer and wildlife on your land.
Chestnuts were the primary mast source for deer and other wildlife for thousands of years before the chestnut blight in the early 1900s. Acorns only became popular as a food source for deer as an alternative to chestnuts. So deer are evolutionarily programmed to eat chestnuts.
Dr. James Kroll, “Dr. Deer,” from the Whitetail Research Institute in Nacogdoches, Texas conducted a study and found this to be true.
“Even though the wild deer at this location had never seen a chestnut in many generations, they got on the chestnuts within only an hour after we put them out,” Kroll said. “The deer ate the chestnuts 100:1 over the acorns! Chestnuts are deer’s preferred food.”
The Realtree Nursery offers the best-producing chestnut tree species – the Dunstan chestnut. It produces very large, sweet-tasting chestnuts, which are like candy to deer. Acorns contain tannin, which is bitter-tasting. Dunstan chestnuts don’t contain tannin and are therefore significantly sweeter. Chestnuts are also a great source for carbohydrates (40 percent) and protein (10 percent). Realtree selected the Dunstan chestnut tree for its blight-resistance, its ability to bear chestnuts in only three to four years and its ability to produce annual, heavy crops of chestnuts, unlike oak trees that can skip years of producing acorns.
Also available from the Realtree Nursery is Chestnut Magic Ultimate Deer Attractant. This unique attractant is made with fresh, dried Dunstan chestnuts and a blend of grains and nutrients that will lure deer in just like magic. The feed can be poured onto the ground in strips or piles wherever you want to attract deer. It works in wet or dry conditions, as well.
Stop relying on those old acorn trees to lure in and keep deer on your land. Plant Realtree Nursery Dunstan chestnut trees and set out some Chestnut Magic Ultimate Deer Attractant by Chestnut Hill Outdoors and feel confident that you’re providing what deer actually want.
For more information, visit online at www.realtreenursery.com, or by calling toll-free 1-855-386-7826.
